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Sanday, An T-oban, 'viking Burial'
Structure (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Sanday, An T-oban, 'viking Burial'
Classification Structure (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Canna; Suillebeag; Suileabhaig
Canmore ID 10757
Site Number NG20SE 3
NGR NG 2825 0422
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10757
- Council Highland
- Parish Small Isles
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
NG20SE 3 2825 0422
(NG 2825 0412) (Private 6" map, annotated by T C Lethbridge 1953) A Viking burial similar to that at Rudha Langaninnis, and probably 9th century , (see NG 20NW 3) lies 200 yards E of Ant-Oban, Sanday. It is unorientated and its setting is determined by the lie of the ground. It is 41ft x 4ft within the kerb (RCAHMS 1928). Lethbridge is of the opinion that none of the boat-shaped burials on Sanday is convincing (private 6"map annotated by T C Lethbridge, 1953) and Rivet considers they are more probably kelp-drying kilns. (See also NG20SE 23.)
(RCAHMS 1928).
Field Visit (4 July 1925 - 6 July 1925)
Viking Burials.
On the strip of machair below the cliffs at Rudha Langaninnis is a setting of stones (Fig. 310), which has formed the kerb of a burial cairn of a type hitherto unnoted in these Inventories. One similar occurs in Arran, where excavation exposed, amongst other relics, incinerated bones and boat rivets and a coin of the 9th century, a styca of Wigmund (A.D. 831-854), Archbishop of York. Another burial of this kind was located in Colonsay, and yielded, on being explored, skeletal remains both human and of a horse, boat rivets and clinker nails, weapons and three stycas, the latest issued by Wigmund (1). The Langaninnis burial has been despoiled and the kerb only remains, enclosing an area 32 feet from north-west to south-east by 6½ feet from north-east to south-west. The end nearest the sea is slightly rounded, the other end is fairly rectangular, and there may be a small outer chamber beyond it, as in the Arran burial. The kerb is formed of detritus, smallish stones about 18 inches in diameter and height above ground, set fairly close together.
Three other burials of similar type were noted in the adjoining island of Sanday. The first,200 yards east of Ant-Oban, measures 41 feet by 4 feet within the kerb; the second, lying beneath the north-west base of the knoll Sean Dun and overlooking Ant-Oban, measures 17 feet by 4½ feet; and the third, lying about 100 yards east of the stack Dun Beag, measures 17 feet by 4 feet 4 inches. These graves are unorientated, and their setting is determined by the lie of the ground.
(1) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., XLI., 443
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 and 6 July 1925.
OS map: Island of Canna liii and liv ; and Islands of Rum, Sanday, etc. (Inverness-shire), lx (unnoted).
Field Visit (30 May 1972)
Situated at NG 2825 0422 on a rise overlooking a loch and measuring 13.0m E-W by 1.5m with the W end open.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (I S S) 30 May 1972.
Field Visit (6 June 1994)
(Formerly classified as kelp kiln). This narrow rectangular structure is situated at the edge of a heather-clad terrace overlooking a boggy hollow. It measures 13m from E to W by 1.8m transversely overall, and is defined by two parallel rows of boulders set on edge. Two small boulders form the E end of the structure, but the W end is open.
(Canna 380).
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG), 6 June 1994.
Measured Survey (15 March 1996)
RCAHMS surveyed the structure at An T-oban (Suilleabeg), Sanday on 15 March 1996 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:100. The plan was later redrawn in ink.
